SOFTBALL
-
Sports Psychology and Peak Performance
HOW SPORT PSYCHOLOGY AND
MENTAL TOUGHNESS TRAINING CAN GET YOU HITTING AND FIELDING IN THE CLUTCH
As a
sports psychology consultant, Dr. Alan Goldberg works with softball
players at every level helping them overcome slumps and play to their
potential. He has spoken at softball conferences around the country
including the NSCA annual convention and has been an ASA clinician. He
has written on the subject of sports psychology and mental toughness
for Women's Fast Pitch World and is the author of Sports Slump Busting,
Hitting & Fielding in the Clutch, Baseball/Softball With the
Competitive Advantage, (4-CD mental toughness training program) and his
latest 7-CD mental toughness training program, 14 Steps To Mental
Toughness.
What's it take to become the
best softball player you can be? Well, you know all about the physical
practice and good coaching, about learning and working on the proper
fundamentals at the plate and in the field. There is no substitute for
solid mechanics and consistent practice! Let's not forget eating right
and getting enough rest. After all, rest is an important part of your
training. Also, let's not forget your physical conditioning. You have
to be in great shape to play good ball. And last, but certainly not
least, don't forget your sports psychology! Sports psychology????
That's right! Sports Psychology!!! If you want to get as good as
possible, then you have to learn to develop mental toughness. You can't
become a champion without a good head on your shoulders and sport
psychology will help you develop these all-important "mental skills."
I always get a kick out of
hearing athletes, coaches and parents saying, "Wait just a minute! My
son/daughter doesn't have any mental health problems. Why do they need
sports psychology? They're not crazy!" Sport psychology is NOT for
crazy athletes or just those with problems. Mental toughness training
is one of the most critical dimensions of your overall training as an
athlete. It is the one dimension that affects every other aspect of
your softball game. Your skills or lack there-of will make or break
your quest to become a champion.
Ever strike out with the bases
loaded and runners on in a clutch part of the game because you were
trying too hard to get a hit? Have you ever gotten caught in the nasty
clutches of a hitting or fielding slump? Ever choke before or been too
psyched-out or intimidated to play at your best? Or maybe you've been
on a team that always seems to lose games to weaker opponents. How
about not being able to hit a certain pitcher even though you know
she's not that good?
Each of these examples clearly
highlights the importance of the mental part of this game. You can't
reach your softball dreams without learning to develop mental
toughness. That is, you have to learn how to stay calm under pressure,
bounce back quickly from errors and bad at-bats, concentrate on what's
important and block out everything else, use failures as a source of
motivation and positive feedback, believe in yourself, stay motivated
to work towards your goals, avoid psych-outs and intimidation and
mentally prepare for those big games. These are just some of the mental
skills needed to play good softball.
Sports psychology covers these
"head skills" that make up mental toughness and can teach you how to
develop and strengthen your "mental muscles." It's the only way that
you can avoid the mistakes that a lot of softball players make. They
just can't seem to get their head and body working closely together. So
just how important is this mental part of your softball game?
A few years back I received a
call from a very talented 13 year-old pitcher who was having some
uncharacteristic control problems. Her mother had heard that I have a
private phone consultation service to help athletes bust slumps and
overcome performance difficulties. This 13 year old was so good that
she could hold her own against college hitters. She had poise and
control on the mound along with good speed. Unfortunately, according to
her mother, she hadn't been herself for six months. It seemed that she
couldn't throw strikes to batters if she thought they were good
hitters. Anyone who she thought was a weak hitter she could easily
pitch to and dominate.
How can we use sports psychology
to get you back on track when you're stuck or struggling like her. What
did this pitcher need to learn that could help any slumping ball
player? Simple! She needed to learn how to concentrate correctly again.
The key to playing championship
softball is learning how to maintain the right focus before and during
performance. The main reason that softball players get into hitting or
throwing slumps is because their concentration is off! They are
focusing on the wrong things at the wrong time! Show me a game where
you've gone 0-for, a time you've choked, gotten psyched-out or
intimidated and I'll guarantee you that before and during your bad
plays and empty at-bats you were focusing on everything except the
right things! Before getting "beaned", this pitcher had two major
things that she focused on when she was on the mound. In her pre-pitch
ritual she concentrated on maintaining a feeling of looseness in her
throwing arm and keeping her eyes focused on her target in the
catcher's mitt. She knew that when her arm got tight she'd lose both
her speed and accuracy so maintaining a focus of the sensations in her
right arm always seem to keep her on track. However, since getting hit,
her pre-pitch concentration was no longer on either of these two
important "focal points." Instead, she was concentrating on how strong
the batter was, what if she got hit again and actual flashbacks to the
accident.
Proper concentration is your key
to softball excellence. Learn to control your focus and you have the
foundation skill of mental toughness. Control your concentration and
suddenly you'll be able to effectively master the pressure of big game
competition. Want the secret to good concentration? Keep your mind in
the "now" of the performance. Ball players who mentally "time travel"
into the future and/or back to the past during performance always run
into performance problems. That's one of the mental mistakes that this
pitcher was consistently making. On the mound she was in the past,
thinking about the accident or in the future worrying that it might
happen again. Her faulty focus in the past or future distracted her
from remaining in the "now" where all of her best softball is played.
In our sessions I taught her how
to get her focus back where it belonged. In addition she was able to
learn several techniques to control her nervousness on the mound and to
integrate these into her pre-pitch ritual. Finally I taught her how to
master her fear and put the accident in the past where it belonged.
There is only one thing that you can do which will always feed your
fears. AVOID!!! The best way to overcome any fear is to do the thing
that you fear most over and over again. In a short amount of time this
pitcher was back on the mound pitching her game regardless of who was
at the plate.
Be smart!
Train completely! Work on your mental game and it will pay off big
dividends for you on the field and up at the plate!
|